It is well known in motor vehicles to provide an occupant restraint belt for the restraint of the occupant. Such seat belts typically include a first seat belt segment mounted on one side of the seat and having an apertured latch plate attached to the end thereof. A second belt segment is mounted on the other side of the seat and carries a buckle having an opening in the end thereof to receive the apertured latch plate. The buckle includes a detent which is inserted in the aperture of the latch plate to latch the latch plate within the buckle. An occupant actuable pushbutton is provided to disengage the detent from the latch plate so that the belt can be unbuckled.
It is desirable in such seat belt buckles that the pushbutton project from the end face of the buckle adjacent the latch plate opening and be depressed into the housing to effect unlatching of the latch plate. It is also desirable that the pushbutton project from the buckle housing the same distance whether or not the latch plate is engaged in the housing. It is also desirable to provide an ejector within the buckle to insure ejection of the latch plate therefrom whenever the detent is moved to the unlatched position. Furthermore, it is desirable that the detent remain in the unlatched position subsequent to ejection of the latch plate from the buckle so that the effort required to insert the latch plate into the buckle is lessened by the amount which would otherwise be required to move the detent away from the latching position. It is also desirable to provide a seat belt buckle construction in which the latch plate detent is physically blocked in the latched position in a manner to prevent movement of the detent to the unlatching position by inertia forces acting on the vehicle body.